1980 – the Dadaism of music history

As I began thinking about my work and passion for music I wanted to identify the perfect year to explain how I feel about and think about music. And the year I came up with was 1980. It is to music what dadaism is to art. Hits by Blondie and Pink Floyd, Gary Newman and Prince. This was a year of tremendous change. Think about how strange the world was at that time. We were emerging from the 1970s and looking at the 1980s as literally the future. It was the end of Carter and the rise of Reagan and that was just the beginning. 1980 was a time of many sonic changes. Punk rock, disco, and arena rock were dying off and new wave, pop music, and post-punk were the new music styles. A lot was changing .

1980 as watershed year came into focus when I was listening to a replay of the top 40 songs of 1980. What I found was this was a time when form did not hold for any kind of music. It was a time when anything went. Just look at the top 100 songs of 1980 below. The year had everything; from a post-punk classic like Call Me by Blondie as the song of the year to disco hits by Donna Summer, rock standards by Billy Joel, and country music by Kenny Rodgers. There was something for everyone because nothing was king.

The year began with the closing of the 1970s and nothing signified the end of the 70s than in February, 1980 the iconic disco club Studio 54 had it’s last party. It was the end of an era. The year ended in December with the murder of John Lennon. It’s almost as if time itself was telling us change was here. Music like punk was being replaced with the new romantic and synth movements and music became less dark and more light on its feet and hopeful. It was also a time that the superstars of the 1980s rose to power. Michael Jackson and Prince had some of their first hits. We were ready to shed the 70s and move forward. So take a look at this list of great songs and marvel.